AI can help people explore ideas, learn skills and plan businesses. But without reliable power, internet access, trusted teachers, equipment and local knowledge, its answers may lead nowhere.

In November 2025, 20 students and their teachers gathered at Botoku Technical Institute in rural Ghana to explore artificial intelligence. Most of the students were young women learning dressmaking or hairdressing. Some had children and other responsibilities. Their questions were immediate: how do I find customers? What should I charge? How can I save enough to start a business?

Four students had iPhones, but only two had heard of AI. They worked in small groups, sharing those four phones and their teachers’ phones. Hesitation soon gave way to curiosity as they used AI to explore advertising, costs, savings and ways to turn a skill into an income. We ended the first day with more questions than we had begun with. The students were ready to continue the next morning.

There was no second day. The electricity failed, and the workshop had to be cancelled.

In a recent P&I piece, Sami Mahroum argues that AI is moving the bottleneck rather than removing it. Courts, research funders and government agencies can use AI to process far more material, but responsible human judgment cannot expand at the same pace. Automating the work around a decision does not........

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